[ashtonkem]

> Are you sure about that ? both Putin and Xi would jump to make a deal for future oil exports in exchange for meeting Saudi social / security needs

Xi maybe, but that would be a lot of money for future benefits; I doubt China can afford it.

Putin is aligned with Iran, Saudi’s enemy, and would also be in a lot of trouble in a hypothetical collapse in oil prices. He’d be in no place to help.

Also, the Russian economy is actually kind of small; Italy would actually be better positioned financially to bail out KSA than Russia.

> Americans can’t handle that level of lifestyle change without it being turned into a revolution.

Debatable. But between “My lifetime earnings have been halved” and “I can’t get food tomorrow”, I’ll tell you which one will trigger a revolution faster.